Any objective proof for that? They had better winning percentage, better offensive efficiency, better defense and margin of victory than ever before.
Plenty of proof. Reg season is diff from the playoffs. Outside of Westbrook and durant the thunder don't have anyone. K-Mary is a false illusion that gets his fts during the reg season and then disappears. They don't even have him now.
Regular season is different than playoffs? That's it? It is different when your primary ballhandler and 2nd scoring option goes down. Otherwise regular season is very telling. This isn't hockey when teams without HCA in playoffs can make finals on regular basis.
With Westbrook, the thunder would make it to western conference finals but lose to spurs. 2011-2012, they won because of harden against spurs.
Chicago. Unfortunately, Miami matches up well against them because Lebron is the best defender against DRose. Other than that, you have teams like SAS. Nets should be up there. Clippers will finally be a serious contender (never thought they were until now). Teams that COULD surprise and take it all: GSW, Rockets, Indiana, Memphis. Teams that will disappoint: OKC!
There's a big gap between the Heat and whomever's second. I voted for the Clippers, but I'm reconsidering that after remembering that they lost in the first round. I'm hesitant to put Houston down because of the group's lack of experience together and power forward problems. OKC has arguably the 2nd best player in the league, but they haven't looked the same. Maybe the Spurs? Although, if Manu from the Finals is the new Manu then I'd have to reconsider. Warriors look good on paper but not that good yet. They have a bright future though. Bulls are a mess. Nets will disappoint as always. Pacers look really good, but I don't think they're better than some of the Western teams. They matchup well with Miami. Memphis looks good, surprised there not an option.
OKC had HCA against the Spurs and they had better gameplan for them than any other team. They won 4 straight games after they put Sefolosha on Parker. Perkins did good job Duncan(they forced Spurs offense to take many midrange jumpers). Loss of dynamic player like Harden might hurt them in playoffs, but they were better team. They would beat the Spurs and had better chance against the Heat than they did last year since Brooks showed more flexibility in terms playing just one big(they've outscored the Heat with Durant at PF in past two years including the finals, but got killed with two bigs on the court(Perkins, Ibaka, Collison)).
